There is no shortage of schools of thought about psychotherapy, but if what you know about psychotherapy comes from novels or television, you might have some misguided notions about what really goes on in a practicing psychotherapist’s office. Psychotherapists are often portrayed as incompetent hacks, more disturbed than their clients. Some scenes are good, some bad, and others downright comical. There are numerous myths about psychotherapy that continue to show up in the written word and on the screen. Here are ten of the most common ones:
- People
who go for psychotherapy are weak, mentally ill, or crazy. Untrue. Nowadays if you
seek treatment, it’s viewed as a sign of resourcefulness. The average
therapy client struggles with many of the same problems we all struggle
with on a daily basis: relationships, self-doubt, confidence, self-esteem,
work/life stress, life transitions, depression, and anxiety. The preferred
designation for the person in therapy is “client,” not “patient,” for that
very reason. Over my twenty-five years of experience, I’ve often said that
the folks I treat in therapy are mentally healthier than some people
walking the streets. - Therapists
sit behind desks taking notes while you lie on a couch. This is rarely the
case. Trained clinicians know that the arrangement and distance between
them and the client are critical for a safe and workable therapeutic
alliance. Psychological or physical separation from the client can create
subtle authority and intimidation and an inability on the client’s part to
fully connect and disclose information pertinent to treatment. The typical
therapeutic setting is much like your living room where both parties sit
in comfortable chairs without barriers between them. Good therapists often
ask if the distance is comfortable and refrain from taking notes until
after the session so they can be present with clients. - Psychotherapists
and clients become best friends. There is no basis in the myth often seen in literature
that you pay a psychotherapist to be nice to you and care for you. The
therapeutic relationship is a psychologically intimate but strictly
professional one. It’s the therapist’s absolute commitment and requirement
of ethics and law that the relationship be limited to counseling sessions
and necessary e-mail, phone, or text contacts. Clinicians who break the
boundary between a professional relationship and friendship can lose their
licenses for such infractions. The client’s name and personal story are
strictly confidential. In an episode of the TV series The Sopranos, a
serious ethical lapse occurred when one therapist revealed the name of
another therapist’s client across a crowded table at a dinner party full
of clinicians. Around the country the next day, the episode outraged
clients and therapists because of this egregious ethical violation. Some
fans even lost faith in their ability to maintain “belief” in the
television program. - Psychotherapy
is mostly talk therapy. Therapy isn’t passive. Scenes in novels and TV shows
where therapists just listen to clients vent, nod their heads in approval,
and mirror back the same words are stereotypes. So are those cases in
fiction where therapists interpret clients’ experiences for them instead
of eliciting a client’s own interpretations. With today’s cutting-edge
therapies, clinicians are trained in experiential and therapist-led
modalities that engage both parties in an interactive collaborative
process based on dialogue and the client’s active engagement in joint
problem solving. Together psychotherapists and clients identify problems,
set goals, and monitor progress sometimes with homework and reading
assignments as part of the process. - Psychotherapists
have ready-made solutions for all of life’s problems. What is important in
establishing the therapist-client alliance is not what the therapist
thinks is important to bring about change but what the client thinks is
important. A good therapist tailors treatment sessions around the needs of
clients instead of plugging clients into ready-made formulas. In so doing,
clinicians listen not just to the content of the story but for deeper
themes and patterns that undergird the stories. This allows the
professional to mirror feedback based on these emerging themes and
patterns that can facilitate change, not just the repetitive words and
phrases that clients supply. - Psychotherapists
blame a client’s problem on their upbringing. Despite the theatric
antics of Dr. Phil, a well-trained therapist doesn’t blame or shame. They
don’t blame clients or their parents. They bring an objective, bird’s-eye
perspective to help clients see the water they’re swimming in, so they can
take responsibility for their lives. Professional therapists never
admonish, blame, or shame clients into change. - Psychotherapists
can prescribe medication. This is a common myth. The term “psychotherapist” is a
broad umbrella that includes licensed social workers, licensed marriage
and family therapists, licensed practicing counselors, and licensed
psychologists. Although this practice has changed in some states,
generally speaking psychotherapists are trained in the skill of helping
clients work through their problems. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who
usually limit their practices to prescribing and monitoring psychotropic
medications while working with psychotherapists who conduct the actual
therapy. - Psychotherapy
can solve problems in one or two sittings. While convenient for
the writer to have a character “fixed” in a session or two, it doesn’t
work that way in real life. The average session is around fifty-to-sixty
minutes and the first session is basically an intake and getting
acquainted session. To get to the heart of a problem, psychotherapy takes
many more sessions over time. On the flipside, as in the Sopranos,
psychotherapy rarely takes six or seven years. Generally speaking,
something’s not working when a client works with the same therapist for
excessively long periods of time. The average therapy course is three to
four months. - Psychotherapists
believe that the personality is cemented by age five. The belief that you
can’t teach old dogs new tricks is perhaps the biggest myth of all. When
you read a novel in which a therapist says that personality is fixed by
age five, it’s laughable and the story loses credibility. Neuroscientists
have shown that the brain is malleable, and new MRI technology allows us
to see this change. Some of the latest psychotherapy techniques utilize
treatment based on neuroplasticity—the creation of new neural pathways in
the brain and thus the potential for new beliefs and behaviors throughout
life from womb to tomb. - Psychotherapists
make clients feel immediately better after each session. This scenario might be
convenient for a storyline, but nothing is further from the truth. Clients
are not cars, and therapists aren’t mechanics. Clients are active
participants while therapists help them face and uncover whatever is
bothering them. That process takes time and can be initially difficult and
painful. Having feelings stirred up is part of the therapeutic process.
When psychotherapists describe the healing trajectory, we often say
sometimes things get worse before they get better. But skilled therapists
are trained on how to lead clients through the storm into the calm.